The menu is inventive, seasonal and eclectic. I'm a big fan of the kale salad with nigella, hazelnuts, and crispy carrots and the green barley salad with cara cara orange, French feta and shiso vinaigrette. Be sure to say hi to their lovely hostesses, Tash and Reesh.

This article from Nerve.com really got me thinking about my favorite love songs from the past 100 years. From the Beach Boys “All You Need is Love” to Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You”, there are more amazing love songs than we could ever count.

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux have been engaged going on 18 months… so, why haven’t they tied the knot yet?

The rumor mill says that the impasse is due to the amount of time they’ve spent apart since their engagement and also due to stressful wedding planning. The media reports that they are on the verge of breaking up…

Did you tune into The Oscars last night? As per usual, the red carpet was filled with glamorous red carpet couples, from Brad and Angelina to Will and Jada and Goldie and Kurt. However, in my mind, one couple especially stood out – Matthew McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves.

McConaughey was quite the dapper gentleman in a black and white tuxedo by Dolce and Gabbana and his wife stunned in a pale pinkGabriela Cadena gown.

Eight years into their relationship and with three kids, this couple seems to be more in love than ever. (How cute is this picture, taken just after the Texan's big win for Best Actor?)

In the actor's touching acceptance speech, he thanked his beautiful wife and family:

"To my wife, Camila, and my kids, Levi, Vida, and Mr. Stone, the courage and significance you give me every day when I go out the door is unparalleled. You are the four people in my life that I want to make the most proud of me. Thank you."

Halloween is a great time of year if you're single and looking for a new romantic interest. Everyone is out and about, in a good mood and ready to have a fun evening. In fact, Halloween might be the best night of the entire year to meet someone and find some lovin', so grab a costume or a mask and get out there. Here are some tips on how to make the most of the evening and meet someone great:

Choose a costume that will
elicit compliments.

1. If you're going to a costume party, you must wear a costume, no matter what; no excuses. If you can't get into the Halloween spirit, chances are that you will not be meeting anyone. (Nobody wants a party pooper!) If you're having a really hard time, think of your costume as a way to get out of your shell and a way to become the person you always wanted to be. Think Clark Kent and Superman. Use your disguise to be daring, bold and flirty.

2. Choose a costume that makes you look and feel great so that you can confidently make the rounds at that party. Choose something that flatters your figure, makes you feel sexy and is fun to wear. Nothing is better than people telling you how great you look, so choose something that will elicit those compliments. Some ideas are a Sexy Fairy, a Foxy Lady or the Queen of the Nile.

3. Don't choose a costume that is over-the-top scary or grotesque. It's one thing to be a vampire or a zombie from The Walking Dead, but it is another thing to have bugs crawling all over you or to be carrying a severed, bloody leg. This is the night to be sexy and interesting, not creepy and awful.
4. Don't choose a costume that is so odd that it will scare people away. If you can't explain your costume in one sentence or less, choose something else. You don't want someone to be curious about what you are, only to be frightened away by your oddness. Examples of some no-no's are Pregnant Tinkerbell or a Wet Shirt Lady.

5. If you are stumped on an original costume, go with a play on words. A play on words costume is a great conversation starter, as people have to walk up to you and ask you what you are, and you can flirt with them while they try to guess. Some examples of good one are a Cat Burglar, Chick Magnet, White on Rice, Cereal Killer or Spice Rack.

6. Don't choose a costume that requires you to be with a pack of people all night to pull it off. You do not want to be the whole bag of M&Ms or the cast of Glee because you will spend the whole night parading around with the group instead of meeting someone new.

7. If you're looking for an excuse to approach someone who you want to meet, just compliment their costume. Everyone loves to be told that their costume is awesome. Use this to your advantage and march on up to that cutie and say you love his disguise. You will have him eating out the palm of your hand.

8. Choose a party that is not too large and crowded. It's tempting to go to the party that is boasting a 1,500-person turnout with an all-night open bar and a celebrity DJ, but that will only be a see and be seen party. Choose something a little more intimate so you can meet someone and actually get to know them.

9. Pace yourself with your drinking. It's okay to lose your inhibitions a little bit, but it is not okay to lose your mind completely. People sometimes stir up a little mischief on Halloween, so be aware and be alert. Never leave your drink alone when you head to the dance floor.

10. If you are interested in someone, get their email or cell number early on so they don't disappear in the sea of costumes. It's hard to keep track of people at a Halloween party because people get camouflaged by all the costumes. So, if you are interested, exchange digits quickly, so you can be in touch come November.

I was thrilled to write this piece for the New York Post on my recent marriage . Read the full article here.

Samantha Daniels is the founder of matchmaking service Samantha’s Table, author of “Matchbook: The Diary of a Modern Day Matchmaker” and the inspiration behind NBC’s 2003 show “Miss Match,” in which her life story was portrayed by Alicia Silverstone. But the 42-year-old successful NYC-based matchmaker was perpetually single – until finally getting hitched last spring. Below, she shares the story of how she finally found true love.

Samantha Daniels and her husband Steve Farber

Deep down, I always wondered why marriage eluded me. I give great romantic advice. I’ve helped more than 300 people get married. Yet for more than 13 years, I was known as “The Single Matchmaker,” unable to reach the promised land myself.

I was proud of my accomplishments, but I was in the same boat as all of my successful clients: I had everything I wanted in my life, except for one person with whom to share it all. That is, until last March, when I finally married my true love.

How did I ultimately land my own big fish? I went through the same dating trials and tribulations as any other single New Yorker. I hit rock bottom with the last guy I dated before I met my husband. That boyfriend told me I was beautiful and that he could see himself marrying me. But a partner at his hedge fund told him no divorced man of his “success and stature” should commit to another marriage before dating a professional model. So he promptly broke up with me and found one. I got so fed up I took myself off the dating market, lest I start hating men forever.

During my one-month dating hiatus, I finally gave myself the same kind of tough love I give my clients every day: No more eliminating guys because they didn’t meet my stringent checklist. No more turning down invitations because I didn’t think I would meet my future husband there. No more sitting back and waiting for love to come to me.

My leap back into the dating pool was tested early. My friend Lori invited me out to the Breslin at the Ace Hotel at the spur of the moment. Normally I would have declined, but I made myself follow my grandmother’s cardinal dating rule: “Go, because you never know who you are going to meet.” When I arrived, Lori was nowhere to be found. But there was a handsome man with wavy brown hair, hazel eyes and kissable lips at the bar. Old Samantha would have waited for him to approach. But Ready-To-Follow- My-Own-Rules Samantha marched up to him and said, “Hello.”

“What do you do for a living?” he asked.

“We’ll have time for business talk later,” I flirted. It turns out Steve Farber, 39, was a successful finance guy — and my future husband.

Thirty minutes later, he was staring into my eyes, saying he wanted to kiss me. In the past, I would have played hard to get, but the new me coyly said, “OK.”

I soon learned he had kids and was separated. In the past, I would have steered clear of separated dads. But I decided to give Steve a chance. Maybe he was the marrying kind.

It turns out he was. Three years later, after living together, a romantic proposal in St. Lucia and an intimate Manhattan wedding, I am a single matchmaker no longer. I gave myself a good kick in the butt, followed my own rules and decided to date like a woman who was going to get married instead of a woman who was hoping to get married. And I did.

Details: Celebrity Matchmaker Samantha Daniels and Money Manager Steve Farber opened up their Wainscott home for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at sunset in a mid-century modern setting. Guests were invited to come meet NYC Mayoral candidate, Jack Hidary. They sipped summery NYC themed cocktails and enjoyed nibbles from Je ne sais quoi caterers and Steve'sice cream from Brooklyn. Hidary gave an inspiring speech about his candidacy and how he hopes to shape NYC when he is elected.

Read the entire article here, and find more pictures of the event here.

The Saturday evening cocktail party in Wainscott, New York, is being billed as a chance to meet Hidary up close, and the dress code is “Hamptons chic.”

Daniels is the creator of “Samantha’s Table,” billed as an “exclusive, discreet and high-end matchmaking service for the ultra-successful, ultra-busy, ultra-cultured and the ultra-educated.”

At the time of publication the upscale Matchmaker hadn’t responded to a query from The Algemeiner, asking if she had a potential candidate to introduce to the eligible Jewish bachelor, but, in a final note on the invite, Daniels told her guests, “We hope to see all of our married, coupled off and single friends, as ‘Samantha The Matchmaker’ will be off-duty!”

Last weekend, I attended one of my favorite annual events in the Hamptons, Super Saturday. It's a shopping event sponsored by several notable designers, and there are always amazing buys to be found. Not to mention, it's all for a very worthy cause, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. This year, they raised over 3.5 million dollars. Pretty incredible.

Glam.com wrote a great piece on the event, and I had a fun time contributing my memories. Here's an excerpt:

"Samantha Daniels, celebrity matchmaker and president of Samantha’s Table, has been attending Super Saturday since 2000. She began coming as a volunteer, once working the Valentino booth, and afterward was allowed to buy a pale pink handbag for $50 that she still owns to this day. This is just one of many fond Super Saturday memories for her: “I discovered Christina Perrin for the first time. I wound up buying 2 floor length beaded skirts for $75 each when they retailed for over $2000. And I found myself chatting with the designer that day. She invited me to her showroom thereafter and I wound up doing a photo shoot for the New York Times! It doesn’t stop there; the same year that Daniels’ best friend won two sets of golf clubs and a weekend getaway at a golf resort, she won a trip for two to London, including airfare, a two night hotel say and a digital camera!"

If you're single and heading out of town for vacation this summer, you might be crossing your fingers for a passionate vacation romance. Vacation romances occupy a special place in our hearts. They thrill us because they have a set expiration date. When we're in the midst of one, we can already feel it metamorphosing into a precious memory. And once one is over, we feel teased by what was an impossible love, however, knowing that it was the impossibility that gave it its heightened sense of meaning.

If you decide that you don'twantyour summer romance to turn into a memory, and instead want to bring it home with you to real life, there are a few questions you should first ask yourself:

Are you sure that your new love is single and available? People will often use vacations as excuses to cheat on their partners. Make sure this isn't your love.

Would your lives fit together? Do you have common interests, values, and ways of life? While you're away from home, you may allow yourself to overlook these important commonalities, and not see the potential flaws in your new lover.

If your love doesn't live in your area, are you willing to put in all of the labor that a working long-distance relationship requires?

If your answer to these three questions is"yes", it is definitely worth exploring this relationship at home in real life. If not, it may be best to relinquish this romance, knowing that it will always live as a treasured memory.

Samantha's blog

I blog about dating, relationships, love and romance. I cover interesting romantic places for travel, unique romantic gifts, new and romantic restaurants, fun and worthwhile events, and interesting people who are making a difference.

Samantha's Table

Strategic Matchmaking

Welcome to Samantha's Table, the exclusive, discreet and high-end matchmaking service for the ultra-successful, ultra-busy, ultra-cultured and the ultra-educated. Samantha’s Table was founded by Samantha Daniels, an ivy league educated, modern-day Cupid over 10 years ago. At that time, Samantha decided to ditch her day job as an attorney and to start a business out of her hobby of matchmaking her friends. Now over 132 marriages and 1000’s of significant relationships later, Samantha is considered the best in the business.

Samantha strategizes with her clients to find them the only thing that is missing in their lives, that special someone with whom to share all of their successes. Samantha’s clients are very busy individuals so they hire Samantha focus on “quality” over quantity. Her clients date on their own all the time but they look to Samantha to find them “the one”, that special someone with whom to take “that final step” as opposed to the people they are choosing to “date for fun”.

As a result, Samantha maintains a database of more than 20,000 quality, high caliber individuals, just the type of people that her clients are interested in meeting. Samantha’s goal is to try to help each and every client get into a meaningful and long lasting relationship with someone who has “the full package” for the client- beauty, intelligence, success and good family values.

Samantha introduces people one-on-one over drinks. She finds potential dates for her clients by partaking in many charity committees, attending the most prestigious and exclusive events in New York and Los Angeles, traveling all over the world and consulting her large and confidential database.